The four-hour event will provide medical care, foot care, nutrition guidance and haircuts, all with no appointment needed. They are the same services that have been offered in downtown Eugene since a first-aid tent first sprouted at an Occupy Eugene encampment.

“This will be the first step in helping them establish a clinic,” Occupy Medical Clinic Manager Sue Sierralupe said. “We are presenting a showcase clinic. This is our first out-of-town clinic.”

The mobile clinic has about 40 rotating volunteers, and they wanted to continue volunteering this weekend even with operations displaced in Eugene by the Eugene Celebration.

Sierralupe and Valeria Mainwald, director of services at South Lane Mental Health, had been talking about a partnership for at least half a year, and the timing seemed ripe.

“You have to see it in action,” said Sierralupe, an herbalist and freelance writer, about the clinic. “It’s extremely inspirational.”

The hope is that interested volunteers in the Cottage Grove area will stop by Sunday to see how the clinic works and express interest in staffing it in the future at yet-to-be-determined intervals. A good turnout Sunday would show everyone involved that there’s a demand for the free services.

Occupy Medical is an outgrowth of Occupy Eugene, and volunteers assert that everyone deserves medical care regardless of income or insurance.

“They are tired of having their hands tied because of the greed,” Sierralupe said of volunteers. “It’s extremely frustrating, and not why we went to medical school.”

Tom Wheeler, executive director of South Lane Mental Health, said access to health care is “tougher” in rural areas. He said his facility is always looking for ways to treat the whole person, addressing both physical and mental health needs.

“We’re hopeful we will be able to do something like this once a month,” Wheeler said. “We’re hoping we can replicate it here with our own rural flavor.”

The Occupy Medical vehicle, formerly a bloodmobile, is stocked with donated supplies. The nonprofit group is in the process of filing for its official tax status, which would make donations deductible, but currently is working with Community Alliance of Lane County to accept donations on its behalf.

The mental health facility in Cottage Grove serves about 1,400 people, and 350 have no health insurance, Wheeler said.

“There’s a culture of helping people (at South Lane Mental Health) and we’re going to learn through (doing),” he said. “Some people are more willing to think outside the box than others.”

Mainwald said the organization is “integrally involved” in trying to achieve health care transformation. “We have always been pretty cutting edge in the way that we provide services,” she said.

Services provided by the facility include helping clients get to medical appointments and to find housing.

Two volunteer doctors and trained assistants will staff Sunday’s event.

Occupy Medical does not do needle exchanges, carry controlled substances or fill prescriptions, sign off on medical marijuana cards or do blood draws, Sierralupe said. Occupy Medical can refer patients for some medical tests and write some prescriptions.